12 research outputs found
Low-Degree Spanning Trees of Small Weight
The degree-d spanning tree problem asks for a minimum-weight spanning tree in
which the degree of each vertex is at most d. When d=2 the problem is TSP, and
in this case, the well-known Christofides algorithm provides a
1.5-approximation algorithm (assuming the edge weights satisfy the triangle
inequality).
In 1984, Christos Papadimitriou and Umesh Vazirani posed the challenge of
finding an algorithm with performance guarantee less than 2 for Euclidean
graphs (points in R^n) and d > 2. This paper gives the first answer to that
challenge, presenting an algorithm to compute a degree-3 spanning tree of cost
at most 5/3 times the MST. For points in the plane, the ratio improves to 3/2
and the algorithm can also find a degree-4 spanning tree of cost at most 5/4
times the MST.Comment: conference version in Symposium on Theory of Computing (1994
Computing a Minimum-Dilation Spanning Tree is NP-hard
In a geometric network G = (S, E), the graph distance between two vertices u,
v in S is the length of the shortest path in G connecting u to v. The dilation
of G is the maximum factor by which the graph distance of a pair of vertices
differs from their Euclidean distance. We show that given a set S of n points
with integer coordinates in the plane and a rational dilation delta > 1, it is
NP-hard to determine whether a spanning tree of S with dilation at most delta
exists
Sparse geometric graphs with small dilation
Given a set S of n points in R^D, and an integer k such that 0 <= k < n, we
show that a geometric graph with vertex set S, at most n - 1 + k edges, maximum
degree five, and dilation O(n / (k+1)) can be computed in time O(n log n). For
any k, we also construct planar n-point sets for which any geometric graph with
n-1+k edges has dilation Omega(n/(k+1)); a slightly weaker statement holds if
the points of S are required to be in convex position
Lower bounds on the dilation of plane spanners
(I) We exhibit a set of 23 points in the plane that has dilation at least
, improving the previously best lower bound of for the
worst-case dilation of plane spanners.
(II) For every integer , there exists an -element point set
such that the degree 3 dilation of denoted by in the domain of plane geometric spanners. In the
same domain, we show that for every integer , there exists a an
-element point set such that the degree 4 dilation of denoted by
The
previous best lower bound of holds for any degree.
(III) For every integer , there exists an -element point set
such that the stretch factor of the greedy triangulation of is at least
.Comment: Revised definitions in the introduction; 23 pages, 15 figures; 2
table
There are Plane Spanners of Maximum Degree 4
Let E be the complete Euclidean graph on a set of points embedded in the
plane. Given a constant t >= 1, a spanning subgraph G of E is said to be a
t-spanner, or simply a spanner, if for any pair of vertices u,v in E the
distance between u and v in G is at most t times their distance in E. A spanner
is plane if its edges do not cross.
This paper considers the question: "What is the smallest maximum degree that
can always be achieved for a plane spanner of E?" Without the planarity
constraint, it is known that the answer is 3 which is thus the best known lower
bound on the degree of any plane spanner. With the planarity requirement, the
best known upper bound on the maximum degree is 6, the last in a long sequence
of results improving the upper bound. In this paper we show that the complete
Euclidean graph always contains a plane spanner of maximum degree at most 4 and
make a big step toward closing the question. Our construction leads to an
efficient algorithm for obtaining the spanner from Chew's L1-Delaunay
triangulation
Algorithmic and Combinatorial Results on Fence Patrolling, Polygon Cutting and Geometric Spanners
The purpose of this dissertation is to study problems that lie at the intersection of geometry and computer science. We have studied and obtained several results from three different areas, namely–geometric spanners, polygon cutting, and fence patrolling. Specifically, we have designed and analyzed algorithms along with various combinatorial results in these three areas. For geometric spanners, we have obtained combinatorial results regarding lower bounds on worst case dilation of plane spanners. We also have studied low degree plane lattice spanners, both square and hexagonal, of low dilation. Next, for polygon cutting, we have designed and analyzed algorithms for cutting out polygon collections drawn on a piece of planar material
using the three geometric models of saw, namely, line, ray and segment cuts. For fence patrolling, we have designed several strategies for robots patrolling both open and closed fences